Inking mechanism for printing presses



Nov. 29, 1949 c, 001- 2,489,589

INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Filed March 26, 1945 CHARLES F.ROOT

ATTORNEYS 'is left free to be shifted;

Patented Nov. 29,1949 7 INKING MECHANISM For: PRINTING rnsssns Charles F. Root, Cleveland, Ohio,

assignor to Th Chandler & Price Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a

- corporation of Ohio Application March 26, 1945, Serial No. 584,869

6 Claims. (Cl. 101-342) The present improvements, relating as indicated to inking mechanism for printing presses, have more particular regard to inking mechanism for platen printing presses of the so-called Gordon type. It will be understood, however that the several improvements which constitute the invention may be advantageously :used with printing presses of other types, where a form requires to be inked by transfer of ink from a suitable fountain or like source spaced from such form.

In such presses the ink is customarily transferred from the fountain onto a distributing disc or plate by means of rollers which travel back and forth across the latter, and the ink is then in turn transferred from such disc or plate onto the form by the same or a second similar set of rollers. In the first of these operations, one of the difficulties encounteredis that the rollers which transfer the ink from the fountain naturally tend to deposit more of such ink on the portion of the distributing disc or plate with which they first come into contact, and even though provision is made for rotation of the disc or plate between passes of such rollers, the distribution of ink on the surface is .apt to remain uneven. Accordingly, when the form rollers in turn take up the ink from the disc they are apt to receive an uneven coating and this will obviously lead to the non-uniform inking of the form.

In my pending application filed April 8, 1943, Serial No. 482,230, now Patent No. 2,377,269 I disclose a method of and apparatus for distributing ink onto a shiftable plate such as the rotatable disc just referred to which comprises :passing the ink-bearing rollers back and forth across and in contact with such plate except for a portion of such passage during which said plate In the specific embodiment shown and described in said application the means for effecting operation as stated are designed automatically to raise the inking rollers out of contact with the plate during an intermediate portion of their movement across the latter. Still more specifically, such automatic raising of the inking rollers is effected by use of supplemental rails movably mounted adjacent the tracks by which such rollers are normally supported, said rails being arranged and constructed to hold the rollers clear of the inking disc when travelling in one direction thereacross.

The present improvements reside in the provision of means whereby contact or said rollers with the disc may be more positively controlled,

and in strict unison with the press cycle.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The annexed drawing and the following description set forth in detail certain mechanism embodying the invention, such disclosed means constituting, however, but one of various mechanical forms in which the principle of the invention may be used.

In said annexed drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a printing press of the Gordon type, only such portions thereof being shown as are necessary to an understanding of the present improvements;

Fig. 2 is a similar side elevation showing certain'of the parts in different operative positions;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of one of the tracks on which the inking rollers are supported during their movement back and forth across the ink disc; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on a somewhat larger scale of such track as indicated by the section line 44, Fig. 3.

Referring to the general view of the press shown in Fig. 1, the bed I, of the press, in the face of which the form (not shown) is secured in familiar manner, is oscillatorily supported at its lower end in the main frame of the press (not shown), oscillation of said bed being produced by means of connecting rods or side arms 4, one on each side, of which only the one end, viz. that attached to a shaft 6 that extends transversely through the bed is shown. Also oscillatorily mounted on shaft 6 are roller frames I0, one on each side of thebed, which carry the form inking rollers l l, shown as consisting of two pairs, which are mounted 'inthe usual manner in the forward portion of said frames- Oscillation of arms 10 is likewise produced in the usual manner by means of a link :2 connected at one end with a pivot l3 spaced from the axis of oscillation of the arms.

' Mounted on abracket 15 that projects upwardly from bed I is an ink distributing plate I6 which is preferably in the form of a disc that is provided on. its under side with a central stud l1, whereby it is rotatably supported in a'suito" able bearing formed in the upper end of bracket I5. An inkfountain 20 is located beyond the upper end of the ink distributing plate, such fountain including a roller 2| which in its normalposition -is adapted to contact with one or both of two ink distributing rollers 22 that to,

gether with a vibrating roller 23 are supported in suitable trucks or saddles 24 so as to be movable up and down across the face of the plate. Such trucks or saddles form part of a carriage which consists of side frames 25 of reverse C-form, the lower portions whereof are provided with spaced rollers 26 thattravel in outwardly facing channel guideways 21, one on each side of the ink distributing plate l6.

Reciprocable movement of the carriage and of the ink distributing rollers thus carried thereby is derived from oscillation of one of the side arms. In by means of a link 28 connected at one end to a lower portion of the corresponding side frame of the carriage at a point intermediate of rollers 26 and at the other end to a boss 29 on such side frame. Rollers 22 are provided with truck wheels 30 on their respective ends which are adapted to run on tracks 3i disposed in parallel relation, one on each side of plate l6, these tracks being joined by curved sections 32 with other tracks 33 that are similarly disposed alongside the face of bed I in which the form is secured. There is thus formed a continuous trackway from a point adjacent the upper or rear edge of the disc to a point lying below the lower edge of such form, so that form rollers Il may travel upwardly along such trackway and across the ink distributing plate [6 after a film of ink has been transferred thereto by the distributing rollers 22. In this connection it should be explained that the use of rollers 22 thus to distribute the ink on plate I6 is not necessary, and if desired the uppermost of the paired form rollers l I may be caused to move far enough upwardly along tracks 3| to contact with inking roller 2|, 1. e. such form rollers may serve a dual purpose.

To assist in the even distribution of ink on the plate or disc l6 by rollers 22, or by such uppermost pair of form rollers ll, if the latter be utilized for the purpose, means are provided for imparting to such disc a step-by-step rotative movement. Any suitable means may be employed for this purpose, those illustrated being substantially as shown and. described in Patent No. 2,079,172 to L, R. Johnson et al., dated May 4, 1937-. For the present purpose it will be sufficient to note that such illustrated means comprise a downwardly facing bevel gear 35 secured onto the lower end 36 of stub shaft H, which projects through the bearing wherein such shaft is mounted, and two bevel gears 31, only one whereof is shown, mounted on a transverse shaft 38 located directly below such bearing. These last named gears are shiftable on shaft 38 to bring either one into engagement with gear 35, as desired, and by thereupon imparting rotative movement to such engaging gear the disc may be rotated in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, and through such an arc as may be required for the particular operation.

Referring to the detailed showing found in Figs. 2 and 3 of one of the tracks by which the ink distributing rollers are supported in their to and fro movement across the face of plate or disc l6, such track will be seen to comprise an intermediate section 48, which in its normal position as shown in Fig. 1, lies flush with the track sections 3| and 32 so as in effect to constitute a continuation thereof. This track section 40 is pivotally connected at its upper end by a transverse pin 4| with the adjacent end of track 3! and is capable of oscillatory movement about such pivot pin within limits determined by another transverse pin 42 fixed in the upper end of track 32 that projects into a slot 43 in the lower end of track section 40. Actually (see Fig. 4) such lower end is vertically notched to receive such upper end of track section 32 and a slot 43 is formed in each of the portions formed by such notch. In the normal position of track section 46 its lower end will be supported, as shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 4, by the pin 42 with the upper surface of such section flush with that of track section 32 as well as that of track section 3|. However, such lower end of section 40 may be raised to the extent permitted by slots 43 so as to occupy the position shown in dotted outline in Fig. l.

The means whereby such raising or lifting of 'the track section 40 is automatically accomplished in synchronism with the press cycle will now be described.

Oscillatorily supported as by a shaft 45 located forwardly of the shaft 38 are two lever arms or rockers 46 (only one of which appears in Fig. 1), the forward ends of which are connected by means of links 41 with the corresponding lower ends of the two track sections 49, just back of the slots 43 therein. Projecting rearwardly from shaft 55 is another lever arm or rocker 48 which has a loose pivotal connection at its outer end with one arm of a double arm lever or rocker 49 cscillatorily mounted on the shaft 38. The other or outer arm of said rocker 49 has attached thereto an oscillatory dog 50, of angular shape, which carries a roller 5| and is counterweighted so as normally to rest against a pin 52 on said arm 49. In this position of the dog, illustrated in Fig. 2, said roller 4%? will be engaged by a cam 53 mounted on one of the roller frames Ill of the press, when said frame is swung in a clockwise direction, and since pin 52 will prevent oscillation of the dog, when the roller is engaged in this manner, the effect of such engagement will be to raise the end of rocker 49 to which the dog is attached, depress the opposite end of said arm, and thus oscillate shaft 45 in a counterclockwise direction. The effect of such oscillation and of the resulting oscillation of the lever arms 4'6 carried by the shaft will be to lift the track sections 40 in the man i nerpreviously described, and such sections will be'maintained in lifted or raised position during theperiod that the cam 53 engages roller 5i while travelling in the stated direction. On the other hand, as soon as frame It) starts to swing in the opposite, i. e. counterclockwise direction, this being the direction of movement assumed to be taking place in Fig. 1, dog 56 is free to swing under the pressure of the engagement of the cam with the roller, with the result that the corresponding arm of rocker :39 is free to drop, as it willunder the influence of the weight of the track sections, pressing through links 47 on the outer ends of rocker arms 66 which tend to rotate shaft 45 in a clockwise direction.

The location and extent of cam 53 will preferably be such that the raising of the track sections 46] in the manner described will occur during the lower portion of the passage of the ink distributing rollers downwardly across the plate In other words, said rollers, following their contact with roller M of ink fountain 20, will contact with the plate or disc at the beginning of their downward travel across the latter, then due to the raising of track sections :30 they will be raised out of such contact until they complete their passage downwardly across the' disc, at which point the track sections 5-3 will be allowed to drop into their normal position so as to permit said rollers to contact with the plate or disc during their return movement and also similarly permit the form rollers ll thus to contact with said plate or disc. The rotative movement imparted to the plate or disc I6 through bevel gears 36 and 31 will be timed so as to occur during the interval that the ink distributing rollers are held out of contact with said disc, in the manner just described. In this way a much more uniform distribution on the disc of the ink received by the rollers from the fountain is secured than has heretofore been possible, while by rotating the disc during the period it is thus out of contact with the rollers, wear and damage to the latter which might otherwise occur is avoided. Through the interconnection of the track section raising and lowering means with the oscillatory frame In which carries the form rollers, the operations just described will be synchronized with the operation of the press.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as regards the mechanism herein disclosed, provided the means stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such means be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. In inking mechanism for printing presses, the combination with a surface to be inked, an inking roller transversely movable thereacross, a track disposed alongside said surface and a wheel for said roller adapted to run on said track with said roller in contact with said surface, said track including a section pivoted at one end for oscillatory movement in a vertical plane; of means adapted to oscillate said track section about its pivoted end and thereby hold said roller out of contact with said surface, said means including an oscillatory arm, a link connecting said arm with the free end of said track, a rocker connected with said arm, a dog on said rocker, and a cam operating in synchronism with the press cycle adapted when moving in one direction to engage said dog and thereby operate said rocker.

2. In inking mechanism for printing presses, the combination with a surface to be inked, an inking roller transversely movable thereacross, a track disposed alongside said surface and a wheel for said roller adapted to run on said track with said roller in contact with said surface, said track including a section pivoted at one end for oscillatory movement in a vertical plane, the free end of said section being notched to interfit with the adjacent end of said track extending therebeyond and being formed with vertical slots, and a transverse pin in such adjacent track-end engaging such slots.

3. In inking mechanism for printing presses, the combination with an ink distributing plate, an ink distributing roller movable transversely thereacross, a track disposed alongside said plate,

and supporting means for said roller adapted to run on said track with said roller in rolling contact with the surface of said plate; of cam means positively driven by such press operative to tilt a section of said track proper in synchronism with the press cycle and thereby to hold said roller temporarily out of contact with said plate.

4. In inking mechanism for printing presses, the combination with an ink distributing plate, an ink distributing roller movable transversely thereacross, a track disposed alongside said plate, and a wheel for said roller adapted to run on said track with said roller in contact with the surface of said plate, said track including a section pivoted at one end for oscillatory movement in a vertical plane; of means operative to oscillate said track section in synchronism with the press cycle and thereby to hold said roller out of contact with said plate.

5. In inking mechanism for printing presses, the combination with an ink distributing plate, an ink distributing roller movable transversely thereacross, a track disposed alongside said plate, and a wheel for said roller adapted to run on said track with said roller in contact with the surface of said plate; of means operative to lift a section of said track in synchronism with the press cycle and thereby to hold said roller out of contact with said plate, said means including an oscillatory arm, a link connecting said arm with said track, and a member operating in synchrom'sm with the press cycle adapted to oscillate said arm.

6. In inking mechanism for printing presses, the combination with an ink distributing plate, an ink distributing roller movable transversely thereacross, a track disposed alongside said plate, and a wheel for said roller adapted to run on said track with said roller in contact with the surface of said plate, said track including a section pivoted at one end for oscillatory movement in a vertical plane; of means operative to oscillate said track section about its pivoted end and thereby hold said roller out of contact with said surface, said means including an oscillatory arm, a link connecting said arm with the free end of said track and a member operating in synchronism with the press cycle adapted to oscillate said arm.

CHARLES F. ROOT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 401,541 Carty Apr. 16, 1889 885,895 Vaughn Apr. 28, 1908 2,377,269 Root May 29, 1945 

